Insight

Europe upstream in brief

14 January 2020

Get this report

$1,350

You can pay by card or invoice

Share link

Contact us

Submit your details to receive further information about this report.

First name
Last name
Email
Telephone

Region

Message

Consent

Please keep me informed about Wood Mackenzie products, services and events.

For details on how your data is used and stored, see our Privacy Notice.

- FAQ's about online orders
- Find out more about subscriptions

14 January 2020

Europe upstream in brief

Report summary

Welcome to the Europe upstream in brief where we bring you quick, responsive opinion and analysis on all that's going on in European oil and gas. The report provides rolling coverage of events, with stories posted to this page within 24 hours of any announcement, where possible. Our Wellwatcher and Dealhunter columns are published fortnightly and offer insight and opinion on a range of Exploration and M&A topics.

Our latest insights, informs, podcasts and webinars:
- Norway’s mature licensing round 2019 – Awards in Pre-defined Areas (APA)
- A rollercoaster of a decade has transformed European exploration
- OMV Petrom makes further progress with Romania portfolio optimisation
- European Green Deal 2050: challenges ahead for Europe’s upstream sector
- Premier Oil pays up to US$870 million in UK North Sea shopping spree
- EastMed pipelineparticipants retain ambitions of 2022 FID following non-binding supply deal
- Equinor targets near-zero emissions from Norway operations by 2050
- Eni returns to Albania after a 20-year absence
- Vår Energi takes FID at flagship Norwegian project: Balder X
- Applications are in for the UKCS 32 nd offshore licensing round
- Ossian-Darach deliversunexpected results in the UK Southern North Sea
- NAM resumes Dutch onshore exploration
- Total’s Tempa Rossa finally onstream in Italy after lengthy delays
- Equinor makes history with first production at Barnacle in UK NNS
- Hurricane Energy’s latest well delivers mixed results
- Coro Energy sells its Italian gas portfolio to Zenith Energy
- Ceremony marks full completion of TANAP pipeline – the heart of Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor
- Cairn Energy exits Norway with disposal of Capricorn Norge
- Valeura Energy and Equinor report best tight gas results in Turkey’s Thrace basin
- Romanian election result raises hopes of brighter offshore future
- Total exits Ireland amid below and above-ground risks
- Storr: Beryl Area’s latest subsea tie-back is onstream
- ExxonMobil disposal programme: what’s for sale in Europe?
- Dealhunter: who could buy UK's PE-backed Siccar Point?
- ADX Energy closes in on Austria upstream entry
- Resources rise at Rathlin Energy’s West Newton discovery onshore UK
- European Investment Bank (EIB) to stop lending to unabated fossil fuel projects from the end of 2021
- UK CATS pipeline system owner sold to international investment funds
- EU approvessanctions against Turkey for drilling in Cypriot waters in East Med
- Ithaca completes US$2 billion Chevron UK North Sea acquisition
- Pandion Energy sells stake in Norway’s Duva field
- Equinor makes a discovery at Echino Sør in the Norwegian North Sea
- Cyprus approvals confirm path to development for Aphrodite
- Private equity in the North Sea: what's next?
- Private equity should explore more in the UK
- MOL agrees its biggest ever M&A deal to enter Azerbaijan
- UK government ends support for fracking in England
- Nord Stream 2 receives Danish construction permit
- i3 Energy hits oil at Serenity in UK Outer Moray Firth
- Independent Oil & Gas takes FID at Core Phase 1 in UK
- New PE-backed Waldorf Production acquires Endeavour Energy UK
- Dealhunter: Utilities continue upstream exit– who is next?
- More tight gas success for Valeura Energy and Equinor in Turkey
- Tolmount East appraisal success for Premier Oil
- PGNiG makes discovery with Shrek in Norwegian Sea
- Neptune Energy to acquire ex-Edison North Sea assets from Energean for up to US$280 million
- Equinor takes FID at Hywind Tampen offshore Norway
- ONE-Dyas sells Dutch asset packages to Solo Oil and HALO
- Turkey continues controversial East Med drilling campaign
- Wellwatcher: how do you measure exploration success in Europe?
- Equinor brings Norwegian giant Johan Sverdrup onstream
- Setback in Ireland as Barryroe farm-in falls through
- Romania proposes improvements to Offshore Law
- US$2.7 billion Chrysaor deal for ConocoPhillips has closed
- ExxonMobil exits Norway in US$4.5 billion deal with Vår Energi
- Ireland pledges to phase out oil and gas exploration
- Is Norwegian M&A set to catch fire?
- Total and Eni confirm expanded exploration partnership in Cyprus’ prolific waters
- Bosnia and Herzegovina joins the European licensing party
- Equinor makes gas discovery at Ørn
- Ukraine cancels award of giant Dolphin exploration block in Black Sea
- Groningen gas production could cease by 2022
- Hurricane Energy celebrates successful fractured basement appraisal at Lincoln
- Is Europe still a draw for exploration by the Majors?
- Valeura Energy and Equinor enjoy tight gas test success in Turkey’s Thrace basin
- A positive result for Croatia’s 2 nd Onshore Bidding Round
- New Italian coalition government arises after a tumultuous week
- Romania steps closer to gas levy U-turn
- UK M&A - are buyers still out there?
- High-profile Irish deepwater wildcat well comes in dry
- Equinor makes potentially commercial Barents discovery
- First oil from Equinor’s Mariner heavy oil field in the UK Northern North Sea
- Does Norway’s project pipeline show explorers are not delivering?
- Cairn Energy sells half of its stake in Nova to ONE-Dyas
- Bulgaria announces tender for deepwater Tervel block in Black Sea
- Cyprus approves Total and Eni exploration licence deals
- Another legacy player up for sale in the North Sea
- IOG and CalEnergy team up for UK Southern Gas Basin development
- Equinor announces further capex reduction at the giant Johan Sverdrup
- Ukraine confirms winning bidder for giant Dolphin block in Black Sea
- Romania announces long-awaited 11 th licensing round
- Are we about to witness a North Sea private equity sell off?
- Edison picks up acreage offshore Malta
- OGA awards Greater Buchan Area acreage
- Equinor’s Trestakk reaches first oil in the Norwegian Sea
- Deepwater disappointment for Shell in Bulgaria - what next for Black Sea exploration?
- OGA kicks off 32 nd licensing round in the UK
- Aker BP’s Liatårnet oil discovery adds another piece to the NOAKA puzzle
- Cuadrilla set to re-start hydraulic fracturing in northwest England
- Petrogas and HitecVision take Total UK asset package in $635m deal
- Equinor and Lundin Petroleum agree swap deal
- Energean beats competition to acquire Edison’s E&P assets
- Lyon and Warwick Deep disappoint in UK West of Shetland – what’s next?
- Total and ExxonMobil sign deepwater concessions in Greece
- Alpha Petroleum’s Cheviot put on hold, again
- Equinor takes over ‘development operatorship’ of Wisting from OMV in the Norwegian Barents Sea
- ExxonMobil weighs up US$3.2 billion Norway exit
- Siccar Point’s Cambo – a core part of the PE-backed player’s growth story
- Lundin makes two discoveries near Edvard Grieg in Norway
- Chrysaor picks up further acreage in UK Beryl Area
- UGV dominates Ukraine’s latest licensing round
- OKEA IPO fails to impress
- Could ONE-Dyas’s latest wildcat be a game changer for the UK Mid North Sea High?
- Large UK onshore gas discovery at West Newton
- Equinor makes discovery in the Norwegian Sea but the Barents continues tounderperform
- Another setback in Italy for Total's Tempa Rossa oil field
- Ukraine’s offshore Dolphin PSC tender fails to make a splash
- Total turns on the taps at Culzean in the UK
- PGNiG acquires a stake in the King Lear field from Total offshore Norway
- OGA dishes out UK 31st Licensing Round Awards
- PSC amendment opens the door for Aphrodite in Cyprus
- 2019 M&A comes alive in the UK with two big deals in Q2 so far
- First oil for Hurricane at Lancaster
- Equinor announces three year delay to Rosebank FID
- Chevron sells UK North Sea business to Delek for US$2 billion
- CNOOC and ExxonMobil spud wildcat at Ireland's giant Iolar prospect
- Shell gets positive results at key Shpiragu appraisal well in Albania
- Norway's run of dry holes pulls tax incentives into the spotlight
- Edison confirms Italy's offshore Argo Cluster is on schedule
- Fairfield Decom: the UK’s new decommissioning JV
- Siccar Point completes Blackrock well - what next for the UK West of Shetlands?
- UK M&A: Majors selling and PE buying continues – but what next?
- Wintershall Dea merger completes
- OMV Petrom's Q1 2019 results highlight strategic challenges in Romania
- Israel's Delek Group in pole position for Chevron's CNS package
- PE buys from PE: Partners Group acquires HitecVision’s CapeOmega for US$1.35 billion
- Exploration success – for the few, not the many
- Chrysaor acquires ConocoPhillips UK assets for US$2.7 billion
- Hurricane Energy spuds Warwick exploration well in UK fractured basement
- Mariner start-up pushed back again
- Ukraine flips licensing focus with offer of the large offshore Dolphin block
- Greek offshore bonanza — new production and new licences
- Knock, knock— who's at ConocoPhillips' door now?
- Mime Petroleum breaks its silence with Balder and Ringhorne acquisition in Norway
- Lundin takes FID on Solveig (formerly Luno II) in the prolific Utsira High
- Seagull - the first to fly the UK FID nest in 2019
- Where next for Major-led exploration in Europe?
- Greenland prepares for new exploration campaign
- Who will win Edison's upstream asset sale?
- Siccar Point Energy spuds first of two exciting West of Shetland wells
- Norway exploration sparks with latest Aker BP discovery
- All eyes on the UK as Norway M&A activity slows down
- Could a new volcanic theory renew exploration in the Central North Sea?
- Ukraine licensing round fails to attract international bid
- RockRose Energy makes IOG acquisition proposal
- Shell and ExxonMobil's Dutch gas giant Groningen — shut in as early as 2024?
- Equinor makes near-field discovery close to its Visund hub
- Tulip Oil's Q/10-A onstream in the Dutch North Sea
- ExxonMobil makes 2019's largest discovery in Cyprus
- RockRose to quadruple its production - but what about decommissioning?
- Neptune Energy takes FID on Duva and Gjøa P1 in the Norwegian North Sea
- Will private equity-backed companies fill the UK exploration gap in the coming years?
- Perenco reviewing its options - what does its portfolio look like?
- Italy hits pause on exploration and appraisal
- UK's first fracking site reports stable flows of 0.1 mmcfd
- US$4 billion of UK assets about to change hands?
- Shell farms in to UK Southern Gas Basin licences, near its operated hubs
- Carlyle-backed Black Sea Oil & Gas takes key Romania FID
- OGA opens Greater Buchan Area for business
- Lundin Petroleum Capital Markets Day — the future is bright
- Repsol acquires Mikkel stake from Total in the Norwegian Sea
- Dutch exploration – in need of a shot in the arm
- CNOOC's Glengorm largest UK discovery since Culzean in 2008
- Is North Sea exploration back in the black?
- Ukraine launches its latest licensing round
- Lundin Petroleum increases foothold in Norwegian Utsira High
- Korean National Oil Corporation's stake in Dana Petroleum in the spotlight
- Progress at pre-FID fields across the UKCS
- OMV increases its resource estimate at Wisting in the Barents Sea
- Norway's Award in Pre-defined Areas (APA) - drilling into the detail
- Fiscal disruption: Romania introduces turnover levy
- DNO acquires Faroe Petroleum, but what's next?
- Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) completes EUR 3.9 billion project financing
- The death knell for Italian exploration?
- Norway's festive exploration campaign fails to deliver the goods
- Dyas and Oranje-Nassau Energie (ONE) agree to merge their upstream businesses
Recent insights, podcasts and webinars:
- Equinor brings its deepwater Aasta Hansteen project onstream
- Equinor and Faroe Petroleum agree Norwegian asset swap deal
- New licensing round launched in Ukraine
- More Beryl success for Apache as Garten comes onstream
- The buzz is back in UK exploration, but could it spill over to the Faroes?
- Baltic Pipe reaches FID - Norway has a new gas market
- Shell bids adieu to Ireland
- Nexen's Buzzard is grounded
- BP's Clair Ridge: the UK's biggest start-up in over a decade
- Does another sub-commercial gas discovery in the Barents make the case for infrastructure?
- INEOS set to buy ConocoPhillips' UK portfolio?
- Mandal High impact exploration for MOL in Norway
- Romania finally implements Offshore Law
- ExxonMobil kicks off deepwater exploration programme in Cyprus
- Mixed bag of results for UK exploration
- UK 31st Offshore Licensing Round: encouraging, but still work to do
- Total spuds third deepwater well in the Bulgarian Black Sea
- Now open – Croatia's second onshore licensing round
- I want to appraise you!
- Bruce, Keith & Rhum: the Serica story so far
- Repsol exits Romania
- Deepwater exploration in the Mediterranean for Turkish NOC
- Service company farms into Italian block
- Columbus FID pushes UK sanctioned reserves over 400 mmboe
- Successful appraisal for Wellesley Petroleum at Norway's Grosbeak
- Eni and Galp abandon Portuguese drilling plans
- No tax hike for upstream industry in UK budget
- Profits soar for Equinor in Q3 2018
- What's next for Romania?
- Shell's high-grading continues - where next?
- Over 1.3 billion barrels of potential resource currently drilling in Norway
- Shell sells Danish upstream business to Noreco
- BP and Zennor Petroleum get the green light for UK North Sea projects
- PGNiG strikes strategic deal with Equinor in the Greater Ekofisk Area
- Curtain up on King Lear as Aker BP takes the lead from Equinor
- UK onshore fracking goes live again
- One small step for Equinor — one giant leap for unmanned
- Further delay announced at Equinor's Martin Linge development in Norway
- Arran gives Shell its fourth UK FID this year
- Albania opens bids for onshore exploration block
- Breaking the curve – Total's Glendronach proves the high impact model
- Equinor successfully appraises Cape Vulture discovery
- OMV Gazprom swap deal fails to lift-off
- More frustration for Eni's Portuguese deepwater exploration well
- Major negotiations underway in Cyprus

Tables and charts

This report includes 130 images and tables including:

Successful awards and commitment wells in APA 2019
Top 10 companies by licence awards

Number of exploration wells and discovered resource in Europe
Rate of return from exploration in Europe
OMV Petrom divestment programme in Romania
Premier Oil UK production following acquisitions
Equinor Norway carbon reduction projects
Albania licensed acreage
Top Europe onshore greenfield start-ups (>50 mmboe) since 2005
Field start-ups across the North Sea in 2019
Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) map
Beryl Area Production
ExxonMobil upstream valuation by European country
Prospective buyers' UK production by year
Top 10 UK onshore discoveries
North Sea transportation systems
Cyprus maritime border dispute and TPAO well locations
Value creation of top 10 UK explorers by net wells drilled 2014-18
MOL working interest liquids production by country
Nord Stream 2 and Bornholm Island - permit applies to 'Route 3'
SSE's portfolio in Lens Global Upstream Valuations
Thrace basin tight gas play
ONE-Dyas asset divestment
Cyprus maritime border dispute and Turkish Petroleum well locations
Exploration success in European countries by metric
Neptun Deep comparison
Deepwater state pre-share comparison
Top ten 2019 producers in UK
Implied Long-term Oil Price, 'notable' Norway and wider North Sea deals highlighted
Cyprus - Eni and Total blocks
Majors’ net exploration acreage by European country
Blocks awarded in 2nd Onshore Bidding Round
Value impact of reversing the gas levy
Maximum tax loss position in the UK by company (2019 - 2023)
Wisting and Sputnik in the northern Hoop area of the Barents Sea
Wellwatcher flies into Stavanger
Success rates and number of exploration wells in Norway
Bulgaria's deepwater Tervel block
Cyprus key discoveries, infrastructure and maritime border dispute
Evolution of full project value at Johan Sverdrup
Romania’s 11th licensing round (onshore and offshore blocks)
History of private equity in the North Sea
Khan Kubrat-1 exploration well
NOAKA area (including Liatårnet discovery)
UK discovered resource per well (2009-present)
Greece licensed blocks
ExxonMobil Norway production by field
Siccar Point production by field
Winning bidders in Ukraine’s three International Oil & Gas Licensing Rounds
European IOC peer group by value (enterprise value or WM NPV10)
Creaming curve in SNS showing top 10 Carboniferous discoveries
Snadd Outer Outer/Black Vulture discovery
Location of the Dolphin block and surrounding discoveries
Uptake by Majors
UK 31st Licensing Round Awards
Top five UK producers in 2019
Albania liquids production
Top 10 countries by prospective resource
Edison's Italy working interest production
UK decommissioning capex by sector
UK West of Shetlands prospective/discovered resources
Ithaca's position within the 2019 UK top producers if the bid is successful
North Sea Q1 2019 exploration well results
North Sea discovered resource v resource per well
Location of the Dolphin block and surrounding discoveries
Location of GGO's Greenlandic licences
Edison working interest production by country
Norway and UK deal value traded (US$ billion)
Location of the Rattray Volcanic Province in the Central North Sea, with fields producing from reservoirs older than the volcanics highlighted
Blocks awarded in Ukraine's 1st International Oil and Gas Licensing Round
Location of RockRose and Marathon's assets in the UK North Sea
Midia Gas Development overview
Greater Buchan area in the Outer Moray Firth
Dutch success rates and average discovery sizes
Dutch exploration wells onshore and offshore since 2014
Location of Glengorm discovery in the UK Central North Sea and inferred tie-back
Successful awards and commitment wells in APA 2018
Value impact of turnover contribution levy
2019 Norwegian E&A wells in which DNO participates
Dyas and ONE combined production profile
Aasta Hansteen Area
Faroe Petroleum's change in production post-deal
1st International Oil and Gas Licensing Round – eight blocks offered in Dnipro-Donets basin (remaining two blocks located in western Ukraine)
Location of the Blackrock exploration well
Proposed route for Baltic Pipe
Buzzard production
Contingent gas resources in the Barents (7 tcf)
INEOS upstream activity
Fiscal benchmarking of Romanian Offshore Law
Deepwater exploration in the Bulgarian Black Sea
Blocks offered in 2nd Onshore Bidding Round
Resource additions in Norway through 2018 appraisal activity
Alanya-1 well location
Europe's place in Shell's global portfolio (2013 v 2018)
Global project delays by era
Global capex blowouts by project era
Rona Ridge exploration creaming curve - pre-Glendronach discovery)
Rona Ridge exploration creaming curve - post-Glendronach discovery
Cyprus exploration acreage by company interest